Product Description

In this fast-paced and lively account, Jim Lang asks -- and mostly answers -- the questions that confront every new faculty member as well as those who dream of becoming new faculty members: Will my students like me? Will my teaching schedule allow me time to do research and write? Do I really want to spend the rest of my life in this profession? Is anyone awake in the backrow?

Lang narrates the story of his first year on the tenure track with wit and wisdom, detailing his moments of confusion, frustration, and even elation -- in the classroom, at his writing desk, during his office hours, in departmental meetings -- as well as his insights into the lives and working conditions of faculty in higher education today. Engaging and accessible, Life on the Tenure Track will delight and enlighten faculty, graduate students, and administrators alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141424 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780801881039
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

"A beautifully written book, part memoir, part meditation, part user's manual -- all the parts held together by the personality and reflections of the author who is by turns exuberant, anxious, triumphant, rueful, and always immensely appealing. Anyone who has ever taught will find waiting on the pages of this book the shock, and pleasure, of recognition." -- Stanley Fish, University of Illinois at Chicago

"With humor and pathos, Jim Lang tells a powerful story of his first year as a college teacher, offering a wealth of insights that will help graduate students and new faculty -- and maybe even not-so-new faculty -- learn to survive and flourish as good teachers. I came away with a renewed appreciation of the very real challenges and opportunities we face as educators." -- Ken Bain, author of What the Best College Teachers Do

"Jim Lang's account of the ups and downs of his first year of college teaching make me wish I had taken notes during my own first contact with the other side of the desk. That year was longer ago than I care to mention, but I found it suddenly before me with a vividness that I can only attribute to Lang's evocative writing." -- Dennis Baron, University of Illinois

"May become the 'bible' for graduate students and new faculty. Lang's descriptions and analysis sparkle with warmth, humor, goodwill, and honesty. I found myself rooting for him, and viewed him as a mentor, turning the page looking for his very thoughtful advice. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to graduate students, adjunct professors, tenure-track and tenured faculty, and administrators." -- Lynn Sacco, University of Tennessee

"Jim Lang is a great guide whose warm, honest, funny, and poignant book will give advice and comfort to all panicked souls standing in front of a class for the first time, or wondering whether to speak at department meetings with senior professors who seem to know everything." -- Emily Toth, Ms. Mentor from the Chronicle of Higher Education

"Lang is a wonderfully engaging writer... he's obviously deeply committed to the craft of teaching and the craft of writing." -- Dr. Erica Dreifus, Adjunct Advocate

"Faculty at all levels will recognize their own experiences somewhere in this short, perceptive, and ultimately entertaining account of academic life." -- Rebecca Manley, Academic Matters

"Lang demonstrates that there are many largely universal survival struggles and self-doubts which are shared in common by most of us embarking on a new career in the academy." -- Alan E. Bayer, Journal of Higher Education

"Offers a lively report on how it looks and feels to shoot the academic rapids today." -- Mary Taylor Huber, Change

"I would not be surprised if [Life on the Tenure Track] became one of the texts distributed by teaching and learning centers to new assistant professors at orientation workshops. It would serve them well." -- Patricia Donahue, College English

"An interesting and accessible narrative." -- Mark Hulsether, Teaching Theology and Religion

About the Author

James M. Lang is an assistant professor at Assumption College.

Customer Reviews

Reading About Teaching
I always thought the life of a college professor was one of quiet repose, but I was wrong! Author James Lang takes the reader inside his chosen profession and reveals the stress, challenge and gratification involved. He details his experience in forging new relationships with colleagues and students alike, and relates his commitment to maintaining his own teaching style--which, I think, is quite innovative. This book is a must for anyone choosing this line of work. --Jan Lastella

Moderately interesting
The author provides warm, reflective, from-the-frontlines commentary on being an English professor at a small college who is also a Catholic, a father, a person with chronic health problems, and an unambitious researcher. If not many of those identifiers apply to you, don't bother with this book; it is written from a highly personalized perspective. For more widely applicable help, I recommend Robert Boice's Advice for New Faculty Members or Emily Toth's Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia.






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Nice Counterpoint to All the Advice Books
I've never reviewed a book on Amazon before, but I really want to recommend this one. If you're headed toward the tenure track, or are even thinking about it, you should read this book. It's served as a nice counterpoint to all the advice books I've been reading lately. While those other books have been really helpful to me, this one's helpful in a different way--it shows rather than tells. It also helps remind me that things don't always come off well, despite our best intentions, and it's all too easy to ignore/forget good advice under pressure. Academic life is not all that it's cracked up to be, it can be a real grind, but it's still got plenty to recommend it, and Lang's painfully honest account reminds me to count my blessings. A bad academic job is better than many good non-academic ones. I'm recommending "Life on the Tenure Track" to my fellow grad students, and also to undergrads who have romantic aspirations for the professoriate.